Hundreds of families in New Mexico will soon be able to get help paying for child care.

The state's Children, Youth and Families Department is spending $400,000 leftover from a federal grant to provide child care assistance for more than 1,100 kids currently on the state's waiting list.

Advertisement

"We know that it's impacting about 730 families, immediately, in regards to this current swipe," said CYFD Secretary Monique Jacobson.

But some experts, including Dr. Veronica Garcia with New Mexico's Voices for Children, want even more money spent.

"We obviously have the resources to do it and we need to prioritize our children in that way," said Dr. Garcia.

Garcia says quality, planned child care helps parents keep jobs, and lowers the rate of child abuse. She not only wants CYFD to allocate even more money for the program, Garcia wants the guidelines for assistance to change so more people can be eligible for help.

In New Mexico, residents are only eligible if they meet certain federal poverty levels.

CYFD said it has about $21 million leftover from that grant. Officials said it could put more toward child care, but they want to make sure the program is sustainable and able to provide for families in the long term.

Right now, CYFD provides child care assistance to more than 17,000 kids in the state. That number will go up with the new funding.